Tag: 1977

Earlier this week I featured a very pretty Emerald Green 1976 Porsche 930. As I then looked around through other auctions I realized it wasn’t the only early 930 currently up for sale in an interesting color. In fact, there were quite a few. It doesn’t make much sense to feature each individually, as much I might like each one. Thus, roundup time!

These aren’t the only early 930s currently for sale, but they are the ones I thought looked the best. They are a fairly diverse group coming in colors both light and dark, vibrant and subdued, and with mileage ranging from the very low (15,054) to somewhat high (115,826). Three of them are Paint-To-Sample and the one that isn’t comes in one of our favorite colors on Porsches from this period. And we even have both engine sizes represented. None of these are boring.

Minerva is impossible to resist. Among Porsche blues it possesses a combination of brightness and subtlety nearly unmatched for its beauty. It’s a vibrant color, but it’s metallic accents allow it to shine without going the ultra-flashy route of a pastel. In light or dark it just looks great. Others might prefer another of Porsche’s many blues, but for me Minerva is the best.

I’ve featured it quite a few times, both on turbos and standard 911s, but I don’t think I’ve ever featured it on one of the early 3.0-liter 930s. That’s really taking desirable combinations to another level! Here we have a Minerva Blue Metallic 1977 Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera, located in New Jersey, with a matching Blue leather interior and 55,423 miles on it.

Recently I looked at the one-year only BMW 630CSi. With only 17,000 miles on the odometer and in period correct Reseda Green with slightly updated BBS Mahle wheels, it looked like a great example. Unfortunately, it had three strikes against it; the photography and presentation wasn’t outstanding for the mileage, it was an automatic and the asking price was a steep $20,000.

630s are infrequently seen in today’s market, so it was with some surprise that another 1977 popped up for sale in such short order. This time in Rubinrot Metallic and wearing again updated BBS Mahle wheels with a more aggressive fitment, this E24 is a no reserve auction and, importantly, a 5-speed manual. Is this the one to get?

In 1976, Porsche won the World Sportscar Championship for makes with successful runs in both the 935 and prototype 936 chassis. The 936 was triumphant at Le Mans in the already famous Martini livery, while a series of 935/76s carried the colors in Group 5 FIA sports car racing. It was there that Porsche introduced the ‘slant nose’ aerodynamic bodywork that became the hot mod on 911s in the 1980s; however, in the 1970s you could get a very nice slantnose Porsche – replete with Martini Racing colors – for a lot less than a 911 Turbo.

To commemorate the success of the 1976 season, in 1977 Porsche released a limited run of Martini-colored 924s. Option M426 was the Martini World Championship Edition, and it cost $450. Add in a removable roof like this one for about $350, and the sticker price of this car just passed $10,000. For that sum, Porsche gave you quite a lot of visual enhancement; bathed only in pure white, the 924’s 8-spoke alloy wheels were color-matched to the body. Martini stripes ran the length of the sides, their design mimicking the wedge shape of the 924. Inside, a special two-tone interior of scarlet corduroy and black leatherette was offset with Martini stripes stitched into the upper portion of the seats and blue piping ran throughtout. A commemorative plaque was added to the back of the center console, too, reminding you that the car you were driving was from the house of a champion. You held a real leather steering wheel, and helping execute your commands was achieved by Porsche adding sway bars to the suspension both front and rear. It was a series of small changes that resulted in a neat package, and one that is sought by collectors of the transaxle design today:

I think this will be the last of the green 911s I look at this week, though who knows what else I might find. I don’t know if I’d say this one is the most interesting of the bunch – an Irish Green ’65 911 is pretty darn interesting – but this Carrera 3.0 has quite a lot going for it. And it definitely has the longest name. Whereas this week’s 993 Targa seemed like a not too bad price for a nice car that you could spend some time driving and the Irish Green 911 combined very early origins with a great exterior color, this Carrera 3.0 brings with it a wealth of interesting facets. Like Irish Green it too comes in a wonderful exterior color: Ice Green Metallic. The interior too possesses rare, unique, and I think very attractive, Black Watch plaid seat inserts to contrast with the Ice Green exterior. And the model itself serves as the successor to the iconic ’73 Carrera RS. Oh, and the condition looks fantastic! There is A LOT to like.

1977 Porsche 911 3.0 Carrera Targa European Specifications finished in Ice Green Metallic with Black interior with Porsche Blackwatch Plaid inserts. Imported back in 1985 by it’s second owner, this rare and very desirable 3.0 Carrera Targa produces over 210HP and is actually faster than it’s coveted 1973 911 Carrera RS sibling. It is the only 911 that shares a 930 engine case with the famed 930 Turbo cars.

I was fortunate enough to buy a 1977 911 3.0 Carrera Coupe back in the early 80’s when I was importing European Specification cars from all over Europe. I remember being incredibly impressed with the lightning fast acceleration and overall feel and handling characteristics of the Euro Spec Carrera . It became one of my favorite Porsche cars of all time. Since that time, I have always been on the lookout for 3.0 Carreras and have strongly believed that they represent one of the best kept secrets in the Porsche market. Many collectors base their desire to purchase certain model 911’s simply on their production numbers. The 3.0 Carrera is not only a limited production run model but also offers incredible performance and driver feedback. The gears are long and the instantaneous acceleration is unlike any 911 of it’s era. The 3.0 Carrera engine produces a sound that is unique to this model and is the quintessential air cooled 911 musical note.

Only 646 3.0 Carrera Targas were built in 1977. Of those, only 365 were Left Hand Drive models. A rare car indeed.

The Targa presented here has just been treated to a recent engine rebuild by Rennwerke Porsche as well as many other mechanical repairs including new Koni shocks and fresh bushings all around. The accident and rust free body was taken down to bare metal and resprayed in it’s original Ice Green Metallic color. The interior also received a freshening with new carpets and reupholstered seats.

The 15 inch by 7 and 8 inch wide factory Fuchs alloy wheels were sent to Harvey Weidman where they received a factory RS style finish before being fitted with new Pirelli tires.

The car has been gone through from top to bottom and is totally sorted and ready to be enjoyed by it’s next fortunate owner.

All serious inquiries should be directed to Mark Starr at +1 (914) 217-4817.

Hunting Ridge Motors tends to have some pretty nice Porsches on hand at any given time. Their prices are on the higher end and this one is no exception in that regard, but of the various Carrera 3.0 I have featured I’m confident that this is the most interesting and best looking of the bunch. And while it’s somewhat an apples-to-oranges comparison, even the high price here doesn’t come remotely close to the asking price of the earlier Carrera RS. All things relative, perhaps the price isn’t so bad. Do I think it will sell for nearly $180K? No I do not. That said, it won’t be cheap. It’s quite rare, it’s very pretty, and should you choose to drive it I imagine it’s a lot of fun.

Yeah. Another Scirocco. If you can be fascinated by the proliferation of the mega-Beetle 911, though, you can bear with me. Volkswagen’s replacement for the Karmann Ghia, what would become the Porsche 924, proved to be perhaps a step too far for the company. What it created instead, once that was abandoned, was a bit of a legend in its own right. Based upon the pedestrian underpinnings of the Golf but actually developed in tandem and released prior to the more famous hatchback, Giugiaro’s penning of a slinkier two-door coupe variant of the platform was simply beautiful. As the Ghia had before it, it married serious Italian styling credentials with the practicality of an economy family hatchback.

Volkswagen’s new EA827 was the power of choice. Here displacing 1588 ccs and generating 71 horsepower, it was adequate motivation to top 100 mph – just. Amazing at it may seem, the nearly 1.6 liter unit in this 1977 was an upgrade over the 1.5 from the model’s 1974 launch in the U.S., though it only gained one net horsepower. They were diminutive cars; a 94.5 inch wheel base and only 155.7 inches overall, the first generation Scirocco is an amazing 10 inches shorter than the model I looked at yesterday. Even though it had little horsepower, road tests revealed that the Scirocco could out-accelerate a Mustang II Mach 1 (its contemporary) in the quarter mile. How dreary must that shoot-out have looked to our modern eyes? Suspension in front was a strut with coil-over spring setup; the rear was technically independent with a trailing arm configuration. Wheels were 13″ by 5″, or about the same size as modern brake discs on high performance cars.

Taking my statement from earlier this week about featuring almost every Ice Green Metallic Porsche we come across to its logical conclusion, here I will feature another one. Except this one isn’t just about that beautiful exterior color. This one also is about the interior: a rare Olive Green interior. The car itself is somewhat similar to my feature earlier this week, this time a 1977 Porsche 911S Coupe. The mileage is pretty high – 197K miles – but it looks well cared for. Enough of that though, let’s take a look at that interior:

This green toned 911S is a mesmerizing car and a superb driver! The factory combination of Ice Green Metallic on Olive Green Leather Interior is extremely rare, making this particular Porsche a collector’s dream.

Incredibly, the Porsche has spent its entire life in the care of one family from Southern California, who has later relocated to a similar warm climate in Texas. Car is completely rust free.

Mechanically, this 911S is remarkable! The family kept the car well maintained all these years, including a complete engine and transmission rebuild, plus recently a complete brake rebuild (all calipers, hoses, and master brake cylinder). The car starts every time on the first crank, with no smoke and no drips of oil anywhere. Also, according to the family, this is a fully numbers matching car with its original motor and transmission.

The entire Green interior is original with the exception of recently reupholstered front seats. The carpeting is completely original in it’s Olive Green color. The dash is a rare, optional leather dash, with it’s original leather still in very nice shape.

The rare factory correct Ice Green Metallic paint is very shiny and adds great value to this car. It’s definitely a head turner!

In conclusion, most midyear (1974-1977) 911’s have been heavily neglected or molested due to the lack of upkeep and proper maintenance that these cars required, making good original and mechanically sound examples hard to come by. This truly is one of those strikingly original midyear 911’s that has been lucky to be in one family its entire lifetime, and therefore benefited from all the proper maintenance and preservation that the car deserved. Combined with its ultra rare color combination, this Porsche is simply a jewel of its era.

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I’ve said before that rare doesn’t always mean better because sometimes there is a reason a color is rare. I think there is a reason Olive Green is a rare interior color. At least when the entire interior wears the shade. Who knows. Perhaps in person the combination of these colors works well and the look is quite good, but it’s a lot of green. There is some variation in the coloring and I think that helps a good bit, but I still want a bit more variation in the interior. Much of that variation comes from the seats, which we are told are the only aspect of this 911’s interior that isn’t original to the car as they have been reupholstered. I wonder if the available shade for reupholstery was slightly different from the original shade and that’s why we see this variation? Could be, I don’t know.

Overall, whether I like the colors or not, I must admit this 911 does look in really nice shape especially when we factor in that this is no garage queen. It’s lived its whole life in the hands of one family so we can hope there will be plenty of history available with the car. I don’t know if the colors and condition will be enough to reach this asking price given the mileage, but this certainly is one of the more interesting midyear 911s we’ve seen.

I want to jump back into the 930 mix with an example that, to me, is a surprisingly pretty car. Occasionally I find myself really drawn to colors that, were you to show me just a swatch of the color, I wouldn’t normally think would make for a very nice exterior color on any car. This is just such an example, though strangely the color, at least by name, is not entirely unfamiliar to us. Here we have a Platinum Metallic 1977 Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera with around 54K miles and a very nice Cork leather interior. The combination is particularly attractive, but I want to focus on that exterior. We saw Platinum Metallic last week on this 911SC Weissach Edition, but that version of the color shows darker, more brown than gold, and I have to say I think this version is the far superior color. In the sun it really pops and while it’s definitely a shade of gold it’s not so ostentatious that we might feel uncomfortable being seen in it. The Cork interior really just completes the package.

Platinum over a full Cork leather interior. Manufactured in September of 1976. Matching numbers with CoA. Books and tools. Recent $9K service. 54K miles from new.

Questions concerning this 930 have to begin with the rear deck lid. It’s almost spectacularly wrong: wrong tail, the script should be Turbo Carrera, and the paint mostly appears to be peeling away. Really I have no idea what it’s doing on the car, but I’d like to know. Presumably, the original is long gone and that is unfortunate, but I’d at least be curious to know the situation with the paint on the one we see here. The paint on the rest of the car looks great. Was the whole car repainted, then the original lid was lost and this one stuck on in its current shape? Or was this one piece never repainted at all when the rest of the car was? Assuming, of course, that the rest of the car has been repainted, which we are not told. Maybe it’s had an accident and a proper tail and lid couldn’t be found. I don’t know, but I imagine getting to the bottom of that will lead us along the path to a variety of other questions.

Outside of that issue the rest of this 930 looks great inside and out. We don’t get a lot of information about its originality, but it’s said to be matching numbers, the mileage is low, and there looks to be some documentation though hardly full documentation. The asking price appears to have taken much of this account as it is on the more reasonable side for one of these 3.0 liter Turbos. How reasonable – how much it will have to come down – will be determined by the answers to our questions and just how well documented it turns out to be. We have a workable starting point though for a 930 that looks a lot better in pictures than I’d have expected if told its color.

Did the high-mileage R32 from earlier get you wondering what you might do with the drivetrain? A little over three years ago, we took a look at a special early Rabbit. Dressed in Miami Blue and looking subtly upgraded with Corrado steel wheels and a lower ride height, what the exterior didn’t give away was that lurking under the hood was a 2.8 liter 24V VR6 motor popped in. The swap looked well executed and generally clean outside of some loose wiring, and the builder hadn’t gone over the top with a crazy interior – instead, relying on the original items for a true sleeper status. With a few minor changes like a better executed intake, engine cover and some odds and ends, the car has reappeared with generally the same introduction – but that’s okay with us, because the look is spot on! It’s also a no reserve auction, so we’ll get to see where an honest yet seriously quick Rabbit gets you these days.

I’ve found myself featuring more and more of the mid-year 911. I still don’t feature them all that often relative to other model years, but I used to never feature any model other than the Carrera so there is some progress. In part, I think this is due to more interesting examples being made available. I suspect that has occurred because, while these are still some of the cheaper models in the air-cooled 911 range, we’ve actually seen a few nice examples sell for values that at the time I found surprising. It’s still rare that it happens, but some of the neglect has waned. This all brings us to the car here: a Burgundy Metallic 1977 Porsche 911S Targa with Cork leather interior and 168,074 miles on it. That’s a lot of miles (though not necessarily for the age), but given that it’s been fully restored I’m not sure that mileage should be overly concerning. It will affect value though.

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